But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus.
Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On the principle of works? No, but on the principle of faith. For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one; and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of their faith and the uncircumcised through their faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law. Romans 3:21-31 (note that Paul said,
we are justified by faith apart from works of law, not,
we are justified by faith alone apart from works of law)
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What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
But some one will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you foolish fellow, that faith apart from works is barren? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works, and the scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead. James 2:14-26 (note that here, James does say faith alone- only to condemn the notion. But also note that he doesn't say we are justified by
works alone, either, because we are justified by both)
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How can we not be justified by
both if we aren't justified when laking
one? Is this is why some tried to cast the epistle of James as an epistle of straw? Something to be burned up and forgotten?
Consider Abraham. Abraham had faith, and his faith was shown to be
living by his works- his obedience to God. Some try to convince us that works are nothing more than a
sign of a living faith. That's only partially true; they
are nothing on their own- but they can't be cast as merely a
sign of true faith. That's to consider a heartbeat as
only a sign of life. (Let's consider works to be a heart, and faith to be the blood, since it nourishes the heart and allows it to continually pump. The heart has nothing to pump without blood, but the blood can't reach its destination without the heartbeat to propel it. Both are useless without the other, but you would have us believe that the heartbeat is only a test for the existence of blood?)
Sola-ists also ignore the other side. Since works without faith mean nothing, so also faith without works is dead. You confess it with your lips and don't understand. You consider that works are only a
proof of faith because your faith must pre-exist for your works to avail anything. That's only partially true- just as faith without works is dead, so works without faith do nothing for you. But just because one can't benefit you without the other, or one needs to come
before the other, doesn't mean that B is
only a proof for A. Again,
both faith
and works avail you nothing without the existence of the other. I say it again-
both faith and works are useless for you unless they're working together.
